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An Inside Look at the Yale Corporation
May/June 2005
by Roland W. Betts '68

Roland W. Betts is chairman of Chelsea Piers, L.P., which developed and operates the Chelsea Piers Sports Complex in New York City. He is also founder and president of Silver Screen Management, a member of the U.S. Olympic Committee, and as a director of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. is one of the leaders of the rebuilding of Ground Zero.

Over the past few years, I have received two significant telephone calls from Yale. The first was from President Levin early in 1999, informing me that I had been nominated by the AYA to run for an Alumni Fellow seat on the Yale Corporation. I told Rick how honored I was, particularly seeing that my family has deep Yale roots. (My great-grandfather was Class of 1866, my grandfather Class of 1900, my father Class of 1932, and my daughter Jessica Class of 1998). I only wish that my dad, who was an avid Yale alumnus, could have been here to see me elected.

The university’s officers spend two days giving new trustees a crash course introduction to Corporation work. I remember walking home with Judge Danny Parker '65, '69LLB, after we finished the second day, sensing for the first time the magnitude of the responsibility for the stewardship of an institution that would soon celebrate its 300th anniversary. Privately, my initial instinct was to be cautious: don’t do anything rash, keep Yale on an even keel, don’t make my service memorable for some big mistake. At a time when Yale’s endowment exceeds $14 billion and everything about Yale is as healthy as it has ever been, you might expect some complacency from Yale’s leadership, perhaps an inclination to sit back and enjoy the moment.

Hardly. The Corporation conducts six three-day meetings each year, preceded by Yale-sized reading loads, and I quickly discovered that my initial instincts were misguided. A complex university like Yale is a living organism, constantly adapting to a rapidly changing environment. Competition is intense for the best students, faculty, facilities, grants, contributions, and gifts. Under Rick Levin’s spirited leadership, the Yale Corporation has been characterized by restlessness, self-examination, urgency, and optimism. If some part of Yale can be better, we go after it.

At this moment, we are rebuilding all of the residential colleges; aggressively improving science at Yale; rapidly expanding out international initiatives; improving the arts; and above all, implementing a number of major curricular changes that grew out of an exhaustive review of Yale College led by Dean Richard Brodhead '68, '72PhD, now President of Duke (and also a member of my own Yale Class). Added to that, we are reworking Yale’s budget to fund the capital replacement of our splendid buildings; raising our sights for the improvement of labor relations and productivity; maintaining or improving the rankings of our graduate and professional schools; and, of course, raising all of the funds necessary to make this ambitious agenda a reality.

The restlessness and urgency of the Yale Corporation suits me. I have learned that to sit still is to fall behind. The optimism and high expectations of the Corporation make the work exciting and the greatest challenges manageable.

In 2003, I received another memorable call to service from my fellow trustee Linda Mason '80MBA, letting me know that my peers on the Corporation were asking me to take the role of Senior Fellow, a position vacated by John Pepper’s decision to leave the Corporation and join President Levin’s administrative team. It is hard to put in words the feelings that call prompted. What an extraordinary honor and responsibility. I am only sorry my dad missed that call too.

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